So what does my life look like as a Falconer’s wife you might ask? What are my hobbies, what do I do besides all the business part of my husband’s Falconry business. Well I do quite a lot of things! But I shall only list and talk about the interesting stuff to keep from boring you.
I raise New Zealand Rabbits
I love rabbits. I got my first rabbit back in 2010 and my family raised them off and on over the next decade. Of course I didn’t bring any animals with me when I moved cross country. Just sorta hopped the plan and wha-la, I moved to WV. I didn’t want to bring any critters with me as that is a lot of stress on them and I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay in WV or not when I first came out. But as you can see… I did! So I got some New Zealand’s in Feb of 2021 because I wanted to have something living to call my own. So I got rabbits again! I knew right away what breed I wanted to get, as I wanted something I could raise for meat. New Zealand Rabbits.
They are the most common rabbit in the US raised for meat. The average size for these guys is 9-11 pounds for the males, 10-12 for females. They come in colors of Red, White, Black, Blue and Brokens. “Broken” is one of the colors mixed with white. I have 2 solids, (Blue and Red), and 2 broken (Broken-Red and Broken-Black) colored rabbits. There are folks out there working on getting a Chocolate color as well, but it’s not accepted by the rabbit registry.
But I’d love to get one eventually! I’ve processed about a dozen rabbits so far, and I must say, I’m very proud of myself that I can actually do it! I used to not be able to even watch the process without getting queasy. I raise and sell them and those I don’t find homes for provide meat for our freezer. Which was the main reason I got them, but selling some helps with the feed costs. So it’s a win-win!
The Farm Cats, Astrid & Hiccup
My husband had two cats when I married him. Astrid the bob-tailed feisty girl on the left, and Hiccup of huge-pawed fluffster on the right. Both very sweet kitties with opposite personalities! Both will follow you around the farm, Astrid more so than Hiccup, he’s more on the lazy side. They are great at keeping the vermin away and take their job very seriously.
Eden the Elkhound
And then we have my husbands dog Eden. She’s an Norwegian Elkhound. Collin’s family used to breed Elkhounds and they shipped the pups all over the US including to Alaska! They were awesome farm dogs and were very good at removing vermin and killing snakes and keeping away unwanted wildlife. Eden though is more on the pet side of the fence and doesn’t have any interest in being a farm dog or hunting. So she just kinda hangs out and look pretty.
I love gardening, so I help out down at the family’s BnB as much as I can during gardening season. And with the high tunnel this year I’m super excited to see how that goes! From planting lettuce, peas, tomatoes, and potatoes and many other kinds of vegetables, we have lots of food to preserve and cook during late spring through early fall! This past year Marsha has been teaching me to can, so far I’ve canned meats, applesauce, salsa, peppers and helped with learning the freeze dryer Marsha acquired this past year. So far we’ve done peppers and eggs as it came at the end of the growing season. It works beautifully and I’m so excited to use it on many more garden produce this year! I got a few seeds for us up at our place for this year, just for fun. Most of it we don’t grow down at the BnB. I got a heirloom tomato so we can grow a couple plants for Collin to train up the trellis. He loves doing that. And I got 2 different pumpkin/winter squash varieties, a Spanish heirloom eggplant and some calendula flowers!
Such fun! What model freeze dryer does your family use?
Marsha got the Harvest Right commercial sized freeze dryer. So it has 5 trays. So far we love it! It’s really cool fitting 60 eggs into a gallon ziplock bag 😱
Thanks, R’nM, for your wonderful, enjoyable blog. Keep it up, and please say hello to Kendall for me. I hope to see you all next summer. — Bill Brenner
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy it! I will certainly tell him you said hi and we all look forward to your visit!